I just spent a little time going through your postings, and I think you're a troll.
Posted on 03/07/2005 5:10:50 AM PST by Anglo
A state funeral for the Italian intelligence officer who died while saving a journalist just hours after she was released from a month in captivity in Iraq is taking place.
Nicola Calipari died when shielding Giuliana Sgrena from gunfire as their car drove towards an American checkpoint in Iraq.
The coffin of Mr Calipari has lain at tomb of the Unknown Soldier They were on their way to the airport when the American troops opened fire. Mr Calipari died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
About 10,000 Italians have filed past his coffin as it lay in state for the past two days a t Rome's Vittoriano monument. They have hailed Mr Calipari a hero.
The killing has put a strain on the close personal relationship between Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian premier, and George W Bush, the American president. Many Italians have been against the war and the presence of 3,000 Italian troops as part of the US-led coalition.
Journalist Ms Sgrena, writing in the newspaper Corriere della Sera over the weekend said the Americans starting firing a hail of bullets at the car.
But America said the car was speeding towards their checkpoint. Ms Sgrena, who writes for the communist newspaper Il Manifesto, is in hospital in Rome recovering from shrapnel wounds.
She was abducted Feb 4 in Baghdad and released after negotiations between Mr Calipari and the Iraqi insurgents on Friday.
Ms Sgrena said that it was possible they were targeted deliberately because the United States opposes Italy's policy of negotiating with kidnappers.
"I believe, but it's only a hypothesis, that the happy ending to the negotiations must have been irksome," she said. "The Americans are against this type of operation. For them, war is war, human life doesn't count for much."
Ms Sgrena has rejected the US military's account of the shooting, claiming instead that American soldiers gave no warning before they opened fire.
The White House said it was a "horrific accident" and promised a full investigation.
Neither Italian nor US officials gave details about how authorities won Ms Sgrena's release. But Giovanni Alemanno, agriculture minister, was quoted as saying it was "very probable" a ransom was paid.
Italian military officials said two other intelligence agents were wounded in the shooting; US officials said it was only one.
Nicola Calipari, the intelligence expert, should have had the intelligence to clear the way for their exit. Not sure how good an agent he was , so far it appears he was a bag man for delivery of ransom money. As for the old Skank I am not sure if she was a hostage or not.
I see in this story that this officer was a hero shielding her with his body.
God bless his soul.
"Why the quotes around the word hero?"
That is the way the Telegraph wrote the headline:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/07/uitaly.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/03/07/ixportaltop.html
I spent a little time trying to find a photo of the real car, and it's amazingly hard to find. I haven't found one yet.
Probably impossible for now. I 'spect the car is under lock & key & 24 hr. guard in a dark warehouse somewhere in Baghdad. Some surreptitious photos will eventually surface; we'll have to wait.
The 'American checkpoint' was about 1000 feet in front of Baghdad airport.
Are you saying that the incident happened w/in 1000 feet of the Baghdad airport? How did you learn this?
All I've seen reported is that it happened 'near' the airport & I've been curious about what 'near' means.
Good points.
Something tells that if someone is a secret agent, and just had spent couple of millions of dollars to get someone out of the terrorists hands, recently passed some other checkpoints on the Baghdad Airport road, can not be THAT stupid to just speed up for fun at the last checkpoint...
So this gong to be 'unsolved' for the time being...
I can not imagine 'independent' investigations on the war on terror. (remember? you are with us or against us...)
I agree--I don't care to see it either. That said, there is a market for that sort of thing. Probably the rag that Sgrena writes for would love to paste them across their front page.
One of those is the car she was kidnapped from one month ago.
Thank you for that info. That explains things. (The two photos aren't of the same car, are they? I don't know much about cars--I'm doing good to find my own car in the WMT parking lot. But one of them looks General Motorsish to me & the other one reminds me of a Subaru--but I don't think it's a Soob.)
I guess many questions would be answered by examining the car.
The distance from the checkpoint, the number of rounds fired at it, were they fired after the car was stopped by the shot to the engin block or before stb...
I guess that the US military's credibility also depends on whenever sharing this info with the wider public or not...
Oh my. I want to hit the idiot editor who wrote that title with a blunt object.
Hi, this will help with the car photos.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14962_Maybe_All_400_Bullets_Missed#comments
I just spent a little time going through your postings, and I think you're a troll.
Oh my. I want to hit the idiot editor who wrote that title with a blunt object.The Dick Cheney method!
BS. If they really wanted her to be pushing up daisies at this point in time, she'd be pushing.....
Tell the insurgents it's over. You twit.
Hi, this will help with the car photos. (LGF link)
It certainly do. Thanx a bunch. And allow me one shrieking ''GOOD GRIEF!!!''
I feel better now. :)
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